Family...

Ephesians 1:3-6

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

So here goes... my first blog. As I sit here in front of my computer getting ready to share a small part of my life with the world, a million different things are running through my head. "Will what I write be interesting?", "Will anyone even read my blog?", "What have a gotten myself into".... these are just a few of the many questions that loom over me as I am searching for a topic to talk about in my first blog... ever. As you've probably already guessed, I decided to write on family.

The Lord has blessed me with an amazing family here on earth. My parents, Bruce and Tammy, have been married for twenty-one years and they have consistently shown my siblings and me a wonderful picture of our Heavenly Father and His love for us. Speaking of siblings... I have five. Four biologically and one adopted. What are their ages you ask? Four of them are 17. They are quadruplets... three girls (Elizabeth, Sarah, and Caitlin) and one boy (Will). My adopted sister Katy is 27. She's my big sister! My family is such a HUGE part of my life. They are my best friends, and I love them all so very much.

Many of you know what it's like to come from a big, close family where the love for one another is SO great, that it is almost unbelievable or to good to be true. As many of you that know what I'm talking about, there are probably at least that many that don't know what I'm talking about, because you didn't grow up that way.

Now for the good part...

I, being a Christian, a child of the King, have a Father who loves me more than my earthly father ever could. And guess what... everyone who has been bought and redeemed by the Father through His son Jesus Christ gains this adoption Ephesians 1:3-6 speaks of.

How AWESOME is that! Romans 5:10 "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." We were enemies of God and yet He loved me, you, the world, enough to send His Son to take on the wrath that we as sinners deserved. Now for those who believe in His Son, he has adopted as His own and we are now seen as righteous.

Philippians 1:2-4

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all"